The Galway Film Fleadh returns from Tuesday July 20 to Sunday 25, both in-person and online, and boasts a programme of 11 world premieres, 45 new films, and more than 100 shorts.
Embracing Ireland’s ‘outdoor summer,’ the Fleadh’s mainstage will be an outdoor cinema in Father Burke Park in Galway city, where 17 feature films and three specially curated short film programmes will be screened to 200 socially-distant audience members with audio delivered via wireless headphones.
The outdoor screenings will feature all the amenities of an outdoor festival, including refreshments, and filmmakers will be on hand to debut new work and take questions from the audience. Weather cover will be provided, should the need arise.
.
Wolfwalkers.
The outdoor cinema programme will feature the debut of the Irish language version of the Oscar nominated Wolfwalkers. There will also be big screen presentations of animated classics such as Beauty and the Beast and Spirited Away.
Opening and closing films
The Fleadh will open with the European Premiere of Here Before, a taut and sophisticated psychological thriller set in Northern Ireland, starring Andrea Riseborough (Birdman ) as a bereaved mother whose new neighbours stir up uncomfortable feelings of grief. The film is the feature debut of television writer and Belfast filmmaker Stacey Gregg.
The closing night film will be the world premiere of Untold Secrets, a new documentary which gives voice to the survivors of Irish mother and baby homes, in particular to the testimony of one survivor, Anne Silke, who was fostered out of the Bon Secours Mother & Baby Home in Tuam. Untold Secrets is directed by Galwegian/Spanish filmmaker, Teresa Lavina.A hybrid festival
The majority of this year’s festival is still taking place online - with all films, Q+A’s, filmmaker discussions and industry events being streamed online from the Fleadh website to audiences’ devices-of-choice.
However with the Pálás Cinema reopening on Friday July 16 those who have missed the cinema going experience can look forward to a number of Fleadh films being screened at the venue.
Fleadh films for 2021
.
The cast of Doineann.
The 2021 Fleadh will screen a variety of world premieres: Foscadh, an Irish language drama set in north Conamara and starring Donal Ó Healaí about a hapless hero taking his first tentative steps into manhood; and the murder mystery Doineann, starring Peter Coonan as a journalist who discovers his reclusive wife and child have vanished from the family’s island home.
There will also be The Queen Vs. Patrick O Donnell, the true story of how a Donegalman killed a member of assassination squad The Invincibles in 1883; Who We Love (Clara Harte, Dean Quinn, Amy-Joyce Hastings, Venetia Bowe, Amy Hughes ), the tale of a girl on the cusp of becoming a young woman; Bicycle Thieves: Pumped Up, a magic-realist action comedy from director Conor O’Toole, and starring Alison Spittle and Maeve Higgins.
.
Who We Love.
Other highlights include Pure Grit, about Native American bareback horse racing ; And Love Yourself Today, about singer-songwriter Damien Dempsey and his fans; Death of a Ladies Man, starrings Gabriel Byrne as a carousing college professor who begins to have surreal hallucinations; A Brixton Tale, a story of class divide in London; and Faith & Branko, a portrait of a personal and professional marriage between two wildly-different musicians.
For younger viewers
Younger film fans will be catered for with Generation Fleadh, an expanded programme of young people’s and family programming, with feature Ride the Wave, a thrilling surfing documentary; Best Summer Ever, a high-school musical comedy featuring an integrated cast and crew of people with and without disabilities; and Girls | Museum, a voyage through the historical art collection of the MdbK/Leipzig, guided by the insights of a group of girls, aged between seven and 19.
.
Will Fitzgerald. Photo:- Mike Shaughnessy
“The outdoor summer is here, finally, for everyone,” said the Fleadh’s director of programming, Will Fitzgerald. “For six glorious days this July, there will be a window into all corners of the world from Father Burke Park. It will take you to over 20 countries, fantastic worlds, as well as back in time, and show you a glimpse of our own not-too-distant future. You’ll be reacquainted with your fellow film fans, and introduced to exciting new voices in filmmaking. And if you’re still not feeling up to travelling, you can take part from the comfort of your own couch.”
Tickets and the full programme for the 33rd Galway Film Fleadh are available via www.galwayfilmfleadh.com
